Baked Paper Rolls

Gluten free? Check. Crispy? Check. Tasty? Check. Easy? Check.

These are just perfect; The thinness of the rice paper gives these a unique bite. They're very easy to do, and I'm being honest, I know the idea of making your own spring rolls sounds challenging and time consuming but these just aren't.

You can make any filling for them too, I would recommend using an already cooked (and cooled) filling before baking them and they take about 15-20 minutes in the oven. I'm totally going to make sweet spring rolls soon so watch this space!

NUTRITIONAL OVERVIEW

It's hard for me to write a nutritional overview for these as I'm asking you to play with the filling so it will vary too much. However, we can compare baking to frying (far less oil), rice paper to pastry.

RICE PAPER WRAPPERS are wheat and egg free which caters for those niggling tolerances/allergies that plague our house.

Obviously the more vegetables the better!

I've gone for onion, garlic, ginger (good base) celery, carrot, sprouts and seitan here because that's what was in my fridge. Other good ingredients would be; cabbage, broccoli, sweetcorn, Asian greens, the options are endless really. Whatever you have in your fridge, use it.

Recipe

BAKED PAPER ROLLS

You basically want to have 2 cups of cooked veggies to go in these rolls. use what ou have and experiment with combinations and flavours.

MAKES 18+ ROLLS

PREP TIME 30 MINS | COOK TIME 20 MINS | TOTAL 50 MINS

INGREDIENTS

VEG MIX

1 tbsp oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 thumb ginger, matchsticks

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 stick celery, finely chopped

1 Carrot, peeled and grated

Handful of sprouts

*1 block seitan/extra firm tofu, chopped into sticks

SAUCE

2 tbsp soy/tamari

1 tbsp vinegar (rice wine is good)

1 tsp maple syrup

SPRING ROLL

one pack rice paper rolls

bowl of warm water (wide enough to fit the wrappers)

damp clean tea towel

METHOD

Heat the oil in a non stick wok and fry the onions until translucent then add the ginger. Fry until onions begin to brown.
Add the garlic and stir for one minute then add the celery and seitan/tofu.
Fry together for a few minutes then throw in the rest of the veg mix and give it a good stir.
Add the soy, vinegar and maple syrup and keep stirring everything around until it's all evenly coated.
Taste and adjust where necessary (more soy for a saltier taste, maple for sweetness etc)
Leave filling to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200°C
Once filling is cool you can get out the spring roll bits and bobs: damp tea-towel, the rice paper wrappers and the bowl of warm water.
Lay the tea-towel out on a clean surface making sure you have enough space for 2-4 spring roll papers. (scroll up and have a look at my photos to help guide you through the rolling process)
Dip a rice paper wrapper in to the warm water and leave it submerged for 10 seconds then lay it on the damp cloth. Repeat for 2-4 wrappers (depending on how many you want to make at one time).
Scoop some filling up and lay it on the lower half of the paper and spread to either side leaving 1cm either end. Fold the edges in then gently pull the lower half up and over the filling and tuck under the filling. (Check the photos if this sounds confusing!)
Roll up to the top edge, place a little water on the top edge using your finger and seal the spring roll. Now learn from this one, get the nack right and finish off the rest!
place them on to lightly greased baking paper on a baking sheet. Spray them with a little oil or brush them with a little bit of coconut oil and bake them for 15-20 minutes turning half way through.